Whirl-pooling in a boiler with side element

[brewbrew]

I have a stainless boiler - 400mm with a kettle type 2.2kW element protruding from a side wall at 60mm from the base.

Most of my brews have been whole hop format using a bazooka type filter - which works well. In many ways, I have no reason to change but the allure of pellets and pellet based kits is tempting.

I have done some pellet brews with the bazooka filter - it either clogs up or lets a load of fine debris through to the secondary vessel and even the finished beer.

So - I want to attempt the whirl-pool method. I have in mind that the element will cause turbulence that will mess up the central accumulation of hop debris and trub.

Does anyone have experience of this? Should I be looking for a boiler that heats from a burner or stove or will I be OK with my kettle element?

Thanks for your advice.

[Jocky]

I’ll be interested to hear if you succeed with this.

Personally I use pellets most of the time, and I gave up trying to filter them some time ago. I have an open outlet on by kettle, and simply til the boiler away from the outlet and walk away to let it settle after chilling. The pellets mostly drop out and you can run off without picking them up.

If I’m in a hurry or using a lot of pellets I bag them.

[orlando]

So - I want to attempt the whirl-pool method. I have in mind that the element will cause turbulence that will mess up the central accumulation of hop debris and trub.

It shouldn't affect it that much, particularly if you return the wort just under the surface rather than the bottom. The other advantage of this method is when you come to chill you aren't returning already cooled wort to then be drawn off again. Should speed up your chilling. Some really good filtering options here.